The Morgan Hill Times has confirmed that Martin Mendoza, a person of interest in the death of 18-year-old Marissa DiNapoli, was arrested at the U.S./Mexico border Sunday.
He is being held in a jail cell in El Centro, awaiting transfer to Santa Clara County.
Mendoza was arrested around 2pm Sunday, July 6, by U.S. Marshals, according to the Imperial County Sheriff’s Office.
Jail databases accessible via the web show a 20-year-old “Martin Jr. Mendoza” with a November birthdate was booked into the jail on Sunday.
When an Imperial County sheriff’s deputy at the jail was asked if Mendoza is from Morgan Hill and is a person of interest in the DiNapoli murder case, he told the Times, “He’s the one.”
The Imperial County jail is 533 miles south of Morgan Hill and just two miles north of the international border with Mexico. The Mexican city of Mexicali sits on the other side of the border.
According to Morgan Hill Police, Marissa DiNapoli was last seen on June 29 at approximately 9:45am in the company of Mendoza, leaving a residence on Trail Drive, just outside Morgan Hill city limits. DiNapoli’s car was later seen in the same area.
Her body was found on July 2 approximately three miles from the residence. An intensive volunteer-led search located her body under a bridge near Anderson Lake, police said.
The teen’s death shattered the Morgan Hill community. Family and friends had held a candlelight vigil at the bridge following the identification of her body. Mendoza’s capture by federal authorities will no doubt provide some small relief to family members who urged Mendoza to turn himself in, and to the local law enforcement community, members of whom worked intensely to locate him for questioning.
DiNapoli was reported missing from her Morgan Hill home on June 30, according to Morgan Hill police.
She had last communicated with family members at 9:16pm June 28. In a text to family members sent at that time, DiNapoli indicated she was planning to stay with a friend for the evening and would return home the next day.
When she did not return home and did not respond to calls from her family, DiNapoli was reported missing, police said.
Detectives said they contacted Mendoza, who was not cooperative with the initial police investigation. Police identified Mendoza a person of interest in DiNapoli’s disappearance.
Anyone with information about this case can call Morgan Hill Det. Kyle Tolentino at (669) 253-4962.
